A memorial service for Marjorie Lois Felder (Marge), 90, will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, Jan. 16, at Grace-Calvary Episcopal Church in Clarkesville.

Marge died Dec. 29, 2011, of recently diagnosed ovarian cancer. She was at home with her life partner of more than 44 years, Catherine Jo Morgan (Cathy), in the cabin they’d built on wooded land in Habersham County in the early 1980s.

The service will be followed by a potluck reception in St. Julian Hall, with music and storytelling about Marge’s life.

Memorials may be made to any project that listens to and feeds hungry or homeless people.

More than anything else, Marge believed in listening. “Listen long, and listen deep…” begins an artwork that has hung on her cabin wall for several decades. She integrated her education in both religion and psychology to create a distinctive way of engaging people in the process of their own lives. At the heart of it was her ability to listen with deep acceptance to the leading edge of feelings.

In 2009, memory issues forced her retirement from more than 50 years of psychotherapy and more than 30 years of making “small wooden objects as functional sculpture.” Marge grieved and then, with her typical decisiveness and enthusiasm, learned the art of paper collage, saying, “I feel as if I can draw closer to people with these cards.”

She was joyfully making collage note cards until she was close to death. Her latest cards feature pressed autumn leaves, especially torn and eaten leaves – leaves she chose for “character, a life fully lived.” It pleased her to show the beauty of these far from perfect leaves, “helping people take time to see and feel, instead of rushing.”

Earlier, Marge helped rear Cathy’s two children, Nancy D. Witham of Stockbridge and Richard G. Witham of Mexico, who as adults carry on her love of woodworking and photography, respectively – as well as her love of music and nature. The family Marge and Cathy created also includes three granddaughters and six great-grandchildren in Stockbridge and Pachuca, Mexico.

In addition, Marge is survived by seven nieces and nephews (and their children and grandchildren), related to her two predeceased brothers, Richard E. Felder and Louis H. Felder; and by Louis’ widow, Joann Felder. Marge’s parents, Ruth Anna Adamson Felder and Ernest Emerson Felder, also went before her.

Those wishing may send condolences by visiting hillsidememorialchapel.com. Photos may be viewed at thrivingconnections.org/Thriving_Connections/Marge_Photos.html.